Complex and expensive computerized learning systems designed for use in the classroom are known in which each student is provided with a console equipped with a typewriter-like key board for inputting data to the computer and with a cathode ray screen for displaying data output from the computer. Such systems conventionally operated under the control of a stored software program associated with a large general purpose digital computer. If, for instance, such a system was preprogrammed to teach mathematics, each student would be presented with mathematical problems for which he would have to type out the respective answers thereof on his keyboard and, depending upon whether or not his answer was "correct", he would either advance to a new lesson or repeat previous lesson material.
There have also been available so-called programmed text books in which a student is presented with a succession of printed multiple choice questions and, depending upon which of two or three choices he believed to be correct, he would be directed to different pages of the book associated with different lesson modules.
Computerized information retrieval systems are also known wherein, in response to the manual entry of a plurality of index numbers, key words, or other identification data by means of a keyboard at a user terminal connected to a large digital computer, relevant information stored in the computer's "data bank" is then displayed upon the terminal's cathode ray tube in the order of its apparent relevance.
However, such prior art computerized instruction schemes and such prior art computerized information retrieval schemes were generally speaking, designed for very specific purposes; moreover, such systems required large general purpose digital computers to operate the associated user keyboards and data terminals and cathode ray displays, and to store the required software, instructional text, and computerized data bases.
Programmed instruction books have the shortcoming that they are much more bulky than conventional books, with many of their pages containing material that the average student would never see as he advance through the preprogrammed lesson plan, and other pages having but a line or two of relevant instructional material.
Furthermore, none of the above described prior art programmed instruction or information retrieval systems combined matching and learning in a way that was calculated to retain the interest of the younger student such a child of pre-school age for any extended period of time.
There has also been known play apparatus designed for use by small children and provided with a wind-up motor, nine numerical keys corresponding to the digits 1 through 9, an "=" key and a window. When the motor is wound up, one of the numerical keys depressed and then the "=" key depressed, a corresponding number of images is revealed in the window.
Another type of play apparatus intended for young children contained a pre-recorded sound recording having a plurality of tracks. When a pointer was turned to a particular one of a plurality of pictorial images and the apparatus activated, a phrase corresponding to that image would be heard.
Such prior art play apparatus lacked the versatility and capability to teach any but the most simple concepts.
Accordingly, a broad objective of the present invention is to provide matching/learning apparatus that will retain a student's interest for a prolonged period of time.
A second broad objective of the present invention is to provide a method of instruction wherein the student learns to match a particular image frame with a particular sequence of input keys and thereby learn concepts of various difficulty.
A more specific objective of the present invention is to provide a new and useful apparatus and method whereby a child or other student is presented with a set of images corresponding to common objects and with a keyboard marked with the letters of the alphabet and is encouraged to associate each particular image with a particular sequence of letters of the alphabet by learning to match each such image with a particular sequence of letters thereby learning to spell.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for teaching a child basic concepts of grammar by encouraging the child to associate with each of a plurality of different images, a different particular grammatical phrase or sentence formed by the sequential operation of appropriately identified keys.
Another objective of the present invention is to assist and encourage a student to learn historical, geographical and other information of an educational nature by encouraging the student to match a frame bearing a pictorial image related to particular facts such as locations, events, time periods, personalities, causes and/or effects with the operation of the "correct" sequence of keys defining one or more of such related facts.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a new and useful method and apparatus for encouraging a student to learn to match a visual symbol with a corresponding verbal phrase by repeatedly attempting to match an image frame bearing a particular symbol with the particular sequence of keys on a keyboard which corresponds to the "correct" phrase, each individual key being associated with a letter, particular sequence of letters, word or phrase in accordance with the designation indicated on a keyboard overlay.
Still another objective of the present invention is to provide new and useful learning and matching apparatus for reading data from a data area physically associated with a particular image frame and for comparing such data with a sequence of manually input keyboard data to determine whether or not the manually input data correctly corresponds to said particular image frame.
Another more specific objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus of the type described wherein the comparison between the image frame data and the keyboard data may be made after the student has completed entering such manual keyboard data.
Yet another specific objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus of the type described wherein "intermediate" comparisons may be made as each additional key character is depressed by the student, thereby assisting the student in locating a "correct" sequence of keys.
Yet another specific objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus wherein in response to a single input of manual data comprising a sequence of key strokes, the machine may compare such manual data with a succession of different encoded data associated with different image frames.
Yet another specific objective of the present invention is to provide matching/learning apparatus wherein the particular image frame to be matched by the student's manual keyboard input is selected at random from a plurality of image frames.
An objective of the present invention related to the foregoing is to provide apparatus having a display window for displaying a particular image frame included within a set of image frames related to a given subject and having a keyboard provided with an overlay also related to said given subject.
Yet another related objective of the present invention is to provide apparatus wherein a particular set of image frames relating to a particular subject and a corresponding keyboard overlay may be removed from the apparatus and replaced with a different set of image frames relating to a different subject and a different corresponding keyboard overlay.